


Love and Blue Gummi Worms

by cloudcastles



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: AU, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-18
Updated: 2014-02-23
Packaged: 2018-01-12 21:57:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,666
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1202059
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cloudcastles/pseuds/cloudcastles
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Radek Zelenka is a struggling single dad and a physics professor. When he enrolls his son Lukas in the local kindergarten, the last thing he expects is to fall head over heels, drunkenly and completely in love with his son's teacher, Evan Lorne. </p><p>(WIP, rating may change and more characters will appear!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Radek

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Tiny Handprints](https://archiveofourown.org/works/5244) by [gblvr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gblvr/pseuds/gblvr). 



“Where are your shoes, Lukas?”, Radek asked absent-mindedly as he filled up the coffeemaker with water.

“I can’t find them!”

Radek sighed, pressing the button on the front of the machine. He really didn’t need a shoes-related tantrum this morning. “But I put your shoes next to your t-shirt for today. Remember, we planned what we were wearing last night?”

“But I want my red shoes. Not the green ones.” Lukas said.

Just as he opened his mouth to argue back, Radek stopped himself. There was no point arguing with a 4 year old before he’d had his morning coffee. It was almost as pointless as arguing with Dr Rodney McKay before- well, before any time. “Ok, well let’s look for them then.”

Lukas smiled triumphantly and trotted off towards his bedroom to start looking. Radek ran his hands through his hair, muttering in Czech as he went to check beside the front door. “Červené boty tatínek, chci ty červené. Proč!”

He knelt down beside the pile of rain boots, sneakers and flip-flops, rummaging through them to find Lukas’ favourite pair. They were lying underneath a pair of Radek’s old hiking boots. Radek picked them up and shook off any old mud from the boots before taking them to Lukas’ bedroom.

“Have you got your socks on, beruška?” Radek asked as he entered Lukas’ room.

Lukas popped his head out of his closet and nodded. “Yes, tatínek. Did you find them?”

Radek smiled and held up the shoes. “Do you need help putting them on?”

Lukas shook his head, then took the shoes off Radek. He sat down to pull them on, carefully lining up the Velcro stripes. When he was satisfied, he held out his hand to Radek, who helped him up.

“Děkuji, tatínek!” Lukas said, smiling.

“What do we say at kindy instead of děkuji, Luka?”

Lukas bit his lip as he thought. “Thank you?”

“Well done!” Radek hi-fived Lukas before he explained again, “We have to remember that not everybody at kindy will know our words. And it’s good when everyone can understand us, yes?”

Lukas nodded in reply. “Ok, little man, we’ll leave in 2 minutes, ok? Make sure you have your lunch box and bag.”

Radek pushed his glasses back up his nose, and then headed back to the kitchen to get his coffee. He grabbed his favourite thermos (blue and shiny with a handle) off the counter and filled it with fresh coffee from the pot. He turned to get the milk from the fridge to make it just as he liked it, but then remembered that he’d used the last of it on Lukas’ Cheerios earlier.

“Sakra!” Radek swore between gritted teeth, throwing his hands in the air in defeat. Making a mental note to buy some after work today, he closed his thermos before checking that he had everything he needed for the day. Glasses, check. Coffee, check. Keys, check. Wallet, check. Bag with marked papers and Lukas’ kindergarten forms, check.

“Come on Lukas, we should get going now!” he called out.

Lukas ran into the kitchen, his backpack already on and a lopsided Giants baseball cap on his head. Radek smiled as he straightened out the cap. “You’re a Giant today then?”

Grinning in reply, Lukas pretended to flex his muscles and did a big baseball swing. “We’re both Giants tatínek! I’m a giant boy and you’re a giant bug!”

“Bug? Ha!” Radek replied. “What kind of bug?” he asked as he manoeuvred Lukas out the front door, locking it behind them.

“A blue one with wings. Maybe a butterfly?”

“That sounds nice. I think I can handle being a butterfly. Do butterflies make any noises like pigs or birds do?”

Lukas thought for a moment as he clambered into the back seat of the car, letting Radek buckle him into his car seat. “Yes! They go swishswishswishwsssss with their wings!”

“Aha!” Radek said as he shut the door. He then walked around to the driver’s side of the car and got in, buckling his seat before he turned the key in the ignition. A local classic rock radio station turned on as the car came to life, and Radek hummed along to the tune as he backed out the car.

“Do you know this song, Luka?”

Lukas thought for a moment before he started singing along. “Come on baby! Don’t say maybe!”

Radek grinned and sang along with him, “I gotta know if your sweet love is gonna save me!”

They drove the rest of the way to the kindergarten singing and humming along to Take It Easy, and the start of a Fleetwood Mac song, before Radek parked the car outside the kindergarten. He helped Lukas out of the car, then crouched down next to him and pointed at the kindergarten.

“What do you think Luka? Looks pretty cool, I like the pink slide.” He’d chosen this place on recommendation from Dr.McKay’s sister. She said it was really good for her daughter, and had a reputation for welcoming ‘non-traditional’ families such as his own. He really hoped Lukas would be happy here.

“What does the sign say, tatínek?” Lukas pointed at the kindergarten sign. Adjusting his glasses again and squinting, Radek read the sign.

“It says Atlantis Point Day-care and Kindergarten.” He reached for Lukas’ hand, and asked, “Shall we go inside?”

Lukas took Radek’s hand and they walked together through the gate.

The kindergarten was abuzz with children and parents milling around hanging up their bags and chatting to each other. There were three children playing with some dinosaur figurines at the nearest desk, and Lukas looked on in fascination. Radek scanned the busy room for anyone that looked like a teacher, but was lost. Just when he was about to ask one of the children to point him to the teacher, a young woman walked up to him and smiled.

“Hi, I’m Amelia. You must be Mr. Zelenka.” She looked at the list she was holding to check. “Sorry, Dr. Zelenka. Hello.” She held out her hand, and Radek shook it eagerly.

“Do I look like a scared and lost parent, or were you given my description to find me?”

Amelia laughed and nodded. “Both. Well, apart from the scared part. You’re doing fine. Both here in one piece, that’s the main thing.” She smiled down at Lukas. “Besides, you’re the only new family this week, so you’re easy to spot. Would you like to meet our head teacher?”

Radek looked at Amelia, confused. “You are not- ?”

“No, no, I’m a teacher’s aide. Mr. Lorne over there is our head teacher, and he’s in charge of the eldest group, which your son will be part of.” She gestured over to a youthful, handsome dark haired man who was speaking to an elderly woman, most likely a grandmother of one of the children.

“Oh! Well then, yes let’s meet him.” Radek nodded brusquely.

Amelia guided them over to Mr. Lorne, who was receiving a plate of oatmeal cookies from the elderly woman. He smiled and thanked her before she left. He was still smiling when he turned towards Amelia, Radek and Lukas.

Radek blinked forcibly. Lorne’s smile was quite literally breathtaking. His whole face was lit up, and his eyes were soft and inviting. It was like Radek had stepped into one of those cheesy soft-focus moments from Star Trek: The Original Series, where Lorne was a hot alien babe, and Radek was some warped version of Captain Kirk. He couldn’t help but smile back, trying to bring himself back to reality.

“This Dr. Zelenka, and his son. They’re our new family this week.” Amelia said to Mr. Lorne.  
“Of course! Thank you Amelia.” Amelia left to go help a mother with hanging up her children’s bags.

“Welcome to Atlantis, Dr. Zelenka. I’m Evan Lorne, the head teacher here. You can call me Evan, all the kids do.” He shook Radek’s hand, then crouched down to be at eye level with Lukas. “And what might your name be?”

Lukas looked shyly at the floor, then said quietly, “My name’s Lukas, but my tatínek sometimes calls me Luka.”

“Your tatínek?” Evan asked, looking up at Radek.

Radek explained, “Daddy. I’m Czech, so we speak some Czech at home. I’ve been trying to teach him the English words for kindy, but it’s all pretty new to him.”

“He speaks Czech fluently?” Evan asked, seeming impressed.

“No, no, English is still spoken more, but we’re pretty good at Czech too, eh Luka?” Radek said.

Lukas nodded. “Are you my teacher?”

“Yes I am. You can call me Evan. And I’ll call you Lukas, ok?” Evan paused while Lukas processed all the information. “Now, hows about you go hang your bag and hat up while I talk to your tat- tati- your daddy?”

Lukas looked up to Radek, who smiled encouragingly. “Go on Luka. I’ll see you again before I go.”

As Lukas ambled off towards the long line of hooks by the entrance, Evan stood up and gave the same dazzling smile as before to Radek. “How are you doing? This his first time going to kindy or anything like it?”

“Yeah, yeah. He’s had a nanny for when I’m at work, but they only go to the park and things. So it’s a big step for him, with all these other kids.”

“Big step for you too, as well, Doc. It’s pretty hard on most parents, a big change like this. He’s your only kid?”

“Yes, it’s just him and me. And please, call me Radek.”

“Radek.” Evan repeated, looking into Radek’s eyes as he did. Good lord his eyes were beautiful. “Alright Radek, is there anything I should know before we set him loose on the townsfolk?”

Radek laughed. “Well, I brought the entry form with me” he said, opening the zip of his bag and pulling out the stapled papers.

“Great” Evan said, taking the forms. “Anything else? What does he like, and uh, anything I should be careful of?”

Radek took a deep breath and frowned, thinking. “Well, he’s allergic to strawberries. But that’s in the form.” He clicked his tongue as he thought harder. “He won’t be used to sharing, because he hasn’t been around other kids a lot. He’s usually pretty shy around new people too.”

“Good, good, anything else?”

Radek grinned as he caught a glimpse of Lukas playing with a few other children. He pointed to him and said, “He really likes blocks and trains”. Lukas was busy building an archway out of blocks over the train set’s tracks, trying to get the blocks to balance just right.

Evan chuckled. “He’ll fit in just fine. Playing with other kids already and he likes trains? I swear every kid in this class has an obsession with them. I think it might have something to do with my reading of The Little Engine that Could. We had the whole class chugging along yelling ‘I think I can! I think I can!’”

“Ah yes, I think I know the one. I’m sure I’ll hear about it from Lukas at any rate. I’ll go say goodbye now, ano- I mean, yes?”

Evan beamed again. “Sure, sure. Great to have you both here, Doc. Radek.” He shook Radek’s hand again, firmly, before watching him go over to his son.

Radek knelt down beside his son. “Ok, Luka, I’m going to go to work now.”

Lukas looked up from his block archway, wide-eyed with concern.

“Hey, hey. You’ll see me at 1 when you’re done. Thursday isn’t tatínek je biggest day at work, so I’ll be here to pick you up and you can tell me all about your day. How’s that sound?”

The little boy frowned before slowly nodding. “Sbohem, tatínek!” he said as he flung his arms around Radek’s neck.

“Sbohem, my little beruška. Be good.” He kissed Lukas’ forehead, then stood and walked towards the exit.

He passed Evan on his way out and gave a little wave. “Thank you, Evan. Keep an eye on Lukas for me?”

Evan bounced his eyebrows and chuckled. “That’s what they pay me for Radek. See you later.”

Radek smiled to himself as he left the kindergarten and got into his car. All things considered, the morning hadn’t been that bad. He had hot coffee in a thermos, his son got to his first day at kindergarten alright and the teacher seemed lovely. Well, didn’t just _seem_ lovely. Radek remembered Evan’s gorgeous smile and swore under his breath. 

Evan Lorne was a charming and handsome man, but Radek Zelenka was no dashing Disney Prince. If, and that was a big if, Evan was even interested in men, he was still far out of Radek’s league.

As he buckled his seatbelt, Radek muttered to himself, “I’m a physics nerd, I'm small, I'm homosexual, and I’m a single dad ... I'm fucked.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Czech translations (all from Google translate/web searches, don’t trust my Czech!)
> 
> \- “Červené boty tatínek, chci ty červené. Proč!” = “Red shoes Daddy, I want the red (ones). Why!”  
> \- “Beruška” = literally ladybug, used instead of a term like “poppet”  
> \- “Tatínek” = Daddy (Tatínek je = Daddy’s)  
> \- “Sakra!” = Damn/damn it  
> \- “Sbohem” - Goodbye
> 
> The song references were ‘Take It Easy’ by The Eagles and the Fleetwood Mac one was probably ‘Go Your Own Way’.
> 
> As you might be able to tell, the story is set in San Francisco. However, I live in New Zealand, so if I make mistakes about San Francisco or the US in general, please forgive me.
> 
> This chapter was unbeta’d, so I apologize for any mistakes. If anyone would like to volunteer to beta any later chapters, let me know :)


	2. Evan

Evan Lorne was lying on his stomach, again. The papers he was looking for had to have fallen under his desk - he’s searched through every pile and drawer he could think of. If the kindergarten would hire a receptionist or an assistant this wouldn’t be a problem. Or maybe, if he was just better at organising his own office in the first place, they wouldn’t need to hire someone to tidy up after him. Then he wouldn’t find himself face-down on the floor of his office multiple times a week.

He felt a wad of stapled paper on the edge of his fingertips and stretched to reach it. He dragged it out, along with a few forgotten paper clips and some dust. As he stood up, he wiped the paper off and checked that it was the right one.

The top of the form read ' **Atlantis Point Day-care and Kindergarten Enrollment and Registration Form** ’, and at the bottom, sure enough, there was the messy signature and printed name of a certain Dr. Radek Zelenka. He’d meant to file it last Thursday, but had been so distracted that he’d completely forgotten the form. The reason behind his distraction might have had something to do with the man whose name was signed at the bottom of the form, but Evan was very much in denial about this fact.

As Evan set about inputting the form’s information into the kindergarten database, he found himself distracted by thoughts of the man who filled it out. He had only seen Radek twice, on Lukas’ first day and on Friday. Kindergarten was closed on Monday, and the boy’s nanny had dropped him off on Tuesday. Today was Wednesday, and Evan would be lying to himself if he said he wasn’t hopeful that the doctor would make an appearance today.

It was quite pathetic, really, Evan thought. He had only seen the man twice, exchanged a few pleasantries and shaken his hand all of three times. However, he’d found himself caught up in thoughts of Radek Zelenka countless times over the last six days. Just the memory of Radek’s crooked smile and heavy Czech accent would leave Evan with a glazed smile on his face.

To add to the futile patheticness of his yearning for Dr. Zelenka, the man was a single father. It was written clearly in scrawling blue biro on the form right in front of him. “Parent/Caregiver 1: Dr. Radek Zelenka ….Parent/Caregiver 2: - “. Just a dash. That meant two things to Evan: one, that Radek had far more pressing parental concerns than his lovelife. But more painfully obvious was two, that Radek was 99% likely to be straight, give or take a percentile.

It would be just Evan’s luck too. It seemed like every single guy he was interested in wasn’t interested back, for whatever reason. They would be straight, or in a relationship, or only in the city for a short visit. Or, in the case of someone he’d flirted with a few weeks ago at a bar, actually an androgynous lesbian. At least she’d taken it as a compliment.

Evan sighed to himself as he saved the database file and attempted to turn his attention to today’s lesson plan. It was entirely pointless to yearn after a man that was in all likelihood, completely uninterested. Even if Radek hadn’t been a single father, he was still a doctor. Of what sort, Evan wasn’t entirely sure, but it still didn’t bode well for his chances. Those who hold doctorate degrees don’t usually end up dating those who only went to three-year colleges.

He shook his head and opened up the lesson plan folder. Today was simple enough - show and tell, story time, free play and some focus on their monthly theme of fruits and vegetables. The children had enjoyed the vegetable song last time, perhaps he could do a memory activity of that and then a fruits song. After that, Amelia had an activity planned about the food pyramid.

“Amelia?”, Evan called out as he stepped out of his small office.

Amelia was teetering on a small step ladder across the room, trying to reach something in a top cupboard. “Yeah, Evan?”

“You alright? Need a hand?”, Evan asked, crossing the room towards her.

She stretched out, and pulled down an oversized cardboard cutout of a piece of cheese. “All good. Just getting sorted for this afternoon’s activity.”

“That’s what I wanted to ask you about. What was it you had planned?”

After pulling out another oversized cutout, this time a head of broccoli, she stepped down off the ladder. “Well, I thought we could arrange the cutouts into the food pyramid, then discuss healthy eating and what the kids eat at home. Like a learning discussion.”

Evan raised his eyebrows, impressed. “I like it. Always gotta have room in the plan for children to say what they think. All set for it?”

“Yep, I think so. We’ve got everything set for everything else?”

He surveyed the room quickly. “I’d say so. I’ll take story time today, yeah? I’ll read something about food so it all ties in.”

“Sounds good to me.” She checked her watch. “Parents will be arriving any moment, I’ll go open up.”

 _Parents_ , Evan thought to himself. Because today was show and tell day, many parents and other caregivers would be wanting to stay for a little bit to watch their children present. It was a bit unorthodox, starting regular show and tell when the kids were only 3 or 4 years old, but Evan thought it offered them a chance to grow some self confidence. He’d certainly loved show and tell when he was younger, and he could tell a lot of the kids here did as well. To prepare for the parents, he had to go get some extra chairs. He headed to the back room to go grab a stack of them.

By the time he had returned with the stack of chairs, there were already quite a few people milling about, waiting for class to begin. Evan kept checking the door as he laid out the chairs in a semicircle around the mat space. Despite being unconvinced of his chances with the man, Evan was definitely still hopeful that he would see him. He had just placed the final chair down when he saw a familiar mop of unkempt hair outside the door. Refraining from fist pumping in celebration, Evan made a beeline for the entrance to greet Radek.

The first to enter was Lukas, who was swung over the threshold by Radek, who was holding his son’s hands. The little boy giggled, then waved to Evan as he approached. “Hi, Evan!”

“Good morning Lukas. Did you bring something for show and tell today?”

Lukas nodded and pointed to a large piece of fabric that Radek was carrying. “I bought the flag!”

“He’s very excited.” explained Radek, “When he understood what show and tell was, he ran around the house trying to find it. It’s all he’s talked about all morning.”

“Sounds great.” Evan said, smiling. “Shall we go hang up your stuff, Lukas? Then you can tell everyone about the flag.”

“And the parade!” Lukas said excitedly, leading the way to the bag hooks.

“Are parents allowed to stay and watch?” Radek asked, “It’s just, he’s been looking forward to it and this is the only weekday I have off.”

“Of course! Lots of parents stay to watch show and tell. It’s the highlight of the week.” Evan explained. “I’d better round everyone up now. Just over by the mat.” He pointed to the semicircle of chairs arranged around a brightly patterned rug, then went to shepherd everyone over to the mat area.

Evan waited until everyone was seated before taking roll. When Lukas’ name was called out, he wriggled around excitably and shouted out, “Here!”.

After the roll book was closed, Evan moved to the left a bit to make room for the children to present. Then he asked the class, “Ok, who would like to show and tell first?”

About half the class shot their hands up into the air, and Evan grinned.

“So many to pick from! I’m gonna have to do it blind!” he said. Then, he made a show of covering his eyes and waving his hand about, before pointing at a small dark haired boy at the back and opening his eyes.

“Would you like to go first, Torren?” Evan asked. The boy nodded, and made his way through the group of children sitting on the mat to stand at the front, holding a small plastic container above his head.

Torren took a big breath before he launched into his story. “Yesterday me and mummy were helping each other in the garden because mummy has been planting big roses, and she needed me to dig the holes for her. We were planting a pretty yellow rose next to the big tree and I saw this on the tree!”

He opened up the plastic container and carefully took out a small cicada shell. The children all perked up in their seats trying to get a good look at it. Torren’s mother smiled encouragingly from her seat in the back.

“Mummy says that it’s a shell of a bug, like when you find a shell on the beach from a sea fish. It’s called a- hmmmm”, he paused for thought.

“A cicada shell, sweetie”, his mother called out from the back.

“A cicada shell”, Torren repeated, “The bug leaves the shell behind when it gets bigger, so it can make a bigger shell.”

Torren’s explanation was met by a chorus of oooh’s and aahh’s from the children, and a loud “Woah!” from Lukas.

“Why did you bring it today, Torren?”, Evan asked.

“Ummm …. because it was cool and it’s kinda like when we grew the butterflies at kindy and they had cocoons?”

Evan nodded. “It is kind of like a cocoon, because the cicada leaves the shell behind to get bigger, just like the butterfly does! Well done, Torren. Do you want to pick who goes next?”

The children’s hands flew into the air again eagerly. Torren bit his bottom lip and looked around the group before pointing at Lukas.

“Ok, you’re up Lukas”, said Evan, before he led a small round of applause for Torren.

As Torren returned to his seat, Lukas took the large rolled up flag off Radek, as well as what looked like a few photos. He ambled up to the front, trying not to drop everything he was carrying.

Lukas smiled shyly at the class, and put down his things next to him.

“On Sunday, my tatínek-”, he paused to point out Radek, who gave a little wave to the children that turned to look at him, “my tatínek took me to a big parade. It was really fun and there were lots of colors and music and I got to go on tatínek je shoulders!”

He picked up one of the photos from the floor and held it out for everyone to see. It was a photo taken by somebody else, showing Lukas on Radek’s shoulders, both of them grinning like mad. Radek was wearing a very large purple feather boa, and was holding a small rainbow flag.

Evan frowned, and flicked his eyes between Lukas and Radek. Radek was beaming with pride at Lukas, and gave his son a thumbs up. _Surely it couldn’t be-_

“Tatínek and me walked the whole parade behind some glittery ladies. They were really nice.” He showed another photo, this time of Lukas with two drag queens in matching pink wigs. “I really liked the pretty colors in their hair”, he said.

 _The gay pride parade,_ Evan thought to himself, _of course!_ He hadn’t been to the parade this year, choosing to spend his Sunday morning sleeping. But the daytime parade was well known for the participation of LGBT parents and their children. Radek and Lukas must have been part of that section in the parade. Evan turned his attention back to Radek, who was still completely enrapt with Lukas’ presentation. He was leaning forward to catch every word of what Lukas was saying, his chin resting on one hand. Even his grin was crooked and adorable, for Christ’s sake. He looked beautiful, in that way that people do when they’re absolutely focused on something they love. Evan couldn’t help but smile to himself, in awe of Radek.

Lukas was still telling everybody about the pride parade when Evan started paying attention again.

“But my favourite thing of the whole parade was all the big rainbow flags! Everybody had a little one just like our big one from home”, he said, unrolling the flag on the ground to show it off. The other children all looked at the flag in wonder.

“Tatínek said that all the colors are for being happy together. He says that boys who like other boys and girl who like other girls like the flag because it shows that they’re happy together”, Lukas explained. His simplified explanation was met with serious nods from many of the children and knowing smiles from the onlookers at the back.

Lukas picked up the flag and photos, then looked at Evan expectantly. Evan stood, and rolled up Lukas’ flag for him, and patted him on the back.

“Well done, Lukas! The parade sounds really fun! Did anybody else go?”, he asked the class, passing the flag back to Lukas.

A few of the children’s hands went up, as well as a few of the adults in the back. “Look at that! We’ll have to send our own kindy float next year for all of you!”, he said with a wide smile. A few of the parents in the back chuckled.

“Who would you like to go next?” he asked Lukas.

Lukas looked around the sea of hands in the air before carefully pointing out a red headed girl at the front.

“Emily’s turn!”, Evan called out. The class and parents clapped for Lukas as he returned to the mat. He passed by Radek and handed him back the flag and photos, which Radek took before giving his son a big hi-five and hug.

The rest of the presentations went by in a blur for Evan, who could barely take his eyes off Radek. A few times, Radek caught him staring, and he had to quickly shift his focus back to the child presenting. The children showed off birds nests, a dreamcatcher, some Russian nesting dolls, a collection of origami cranes, a postcard from an overseas cousin and a myriad of other items that Evan was too distracted to notice very well.

Once the last child had presented (a photo of their new baby sibling, Evan noted for future conversation), Evan led the class in a big round of applause.

“Isn’t it great when we all get to share things we like? I like seeing what you guys bring in every week! Next week, we won’t be having show and tell because we’ll be on a field trip. So you’ll have to remember to save up something to share the Wednesday after that”, Evan explained.

He looked up from the children to the group of parents and supporters. “And now, if everyone can help, we’ll pack up the chairs and say goodbye to everyone who came to watch today.”

As everybody helped out stacking the chairs and giving them to Amelia to put in the back room, Radek came up to Evan.

“Thanks for being such a good sport about Lukas’ show and tell. I’d heard that this kindy was pretty accepting, but to be honest, I’m pretty blown away”, he said.

“That’s no problem at all Radek. I probably would have done a show and tell about the parade myself but I completely slept through it this year”, Evan replied with a smile.

Evan monitored Radek’s response, and noted Radek’s eyes widen ever so slightly as he took in the heavily implied meaning. The man looked flustered for a brief moment, blinking owlishly and adjusting his glasses. He cleared his throat, then replied, “Ah to sleep in on a Sunday! I haven’t done that in many years”. He smiled and looked over at Lukas, who was inspecting Torren’s cicada shell more closely.

“He’s definitely a little energy ball”, agreed Evan.

Radek scoffed lightly and nodded, still looking over at his son. “To say the least.”

He turned back toward Evan and shook his hand. “Thank you again, Evan. I’m sure I’ll see you this afternoon.” He smiled warmly, then left to go say goodbye to Lukas.

Evan found himself watching Radek again, as he hugged his son and kissed him on the tip of his nose. Radek caught him watching as he turned to leave, and gave him a little half wave and another crooked smile. Evan returned the wave, and his eyes followed Radek until he had left the classroom and was completely out of sight.

 _God, I’m pathetic_ , Evan thought, mentally kicking himself.

He had to physically shake himself back to his senses, clearing his mind of that frustratingly perfect crooked smile before he could call the children in for story time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cheers to Jen (captalias.tumblr.com) for giving this a read-through before posting :)


	3. Radek

It was 12:30 in the afternoon and Radek wasn’t in a lecture hall, or marking papers or listening to Dr. Rodney McKay tell him all about his newest and greatest theory.

He was still getting used to the idea of having Wednesdays off, so sitting in a café in the middle of the day nursing a very large latte was a new and bizarre situation for Radek. By some stroke of luck he had convinced the class tutors to mark the latest assignments, so he had found himself with absolutely nothing to do. So, after he had dropped Lukas off at kindy and watched his show and tell, he had spent his day absent mindedly window shopping and people watching. Although he knew he probably could have spent that day revising lecture plans or tidying up the house, he much preferred the leisure of a physics-less, Rodney-less and child-less day. Not that he didn’t enjoy those parts of his life, but it was a wonderful breath of fresh air to have some time to himself.

Radek took another sip from his coffee and checked his watch. He’d probably have to leave in about ten minutes if he wanted to be on time to pick Lukas up at 1pm. For now though, he let himself finish his coffee and custard danish slowly, reading the newspaper at the same time. There were two whole pages devoted to Sunday’s pride parade, complete with articles and lots of photos. He smiled as he read an article on the success of the parade’s family-orientated section, then flipped the page to look at the photos. In the top left hand corner, there was a familiar picture. Radek adjusted his glasses and looked closer, chuckling to himself as he recognised the photo.

Lukas was grinning up at him from the grainy newspaper page, sandwiched between two very pink and glittery drag queens. Just as Radek had taken an identical photo on his own camera, a newspaper photographer had asked if he could snap the same picture. The photographer had mentioned that it was rare to get pictures of children with drag queens, as they came from two vastly different parts of the gay community. Radek had happily agreed, and it made him twice as happy to see the photo in print. Lukas would be ecstatic when he showed him later.

He folded up the newspaper and slipped it into his bag in between his laptop and his folder of lecture notes. Radek barely went anywhere without his laptop, which was probably not good for its chances of being stolen. However, he had decided that the benefits outweighed the risks. After all, who knew when a physics-related moment of inspiration would strike? He had lost a few brilliant ideas in his time because he had nothing near on which to write them down. In a few instances he had scrawled them down on paper, but had later found his own excited handwriting completely illegible.

After taking the last bite of his danish, he put his bag over his shoulder so the strap hung securely across his torso. Then, he fished his keys out of his pocket and walked the short distance to his car. The advantage of driving a little out of the city centre meant that parking wasn’t such an issue. That, and the coffee was slightly better, as it was less likely to be catered towards easily impressed tourists. Upon reaching the car, Radek slipped the key into the driver’s side door, jiggling the key a bit before the doors unlocked. He’d been avoiding installing a remote central locking system, using the excuse that the car was too old to bother upgrading. But in reality, Radek had grown fond of his car’s quirks, even down to the faded turquoise exterior and ratty brown carpet that covered the base of the trunk.

Once he was onto the main road that took him in the direction of Lukas’ kindy, Radek picked out an old mix cd to listen to. Written in swirling purple marker on the front was _To my miláček, love Katka_. A soft smile played on Radek’s lips as the first song began. It was a song from his later university days in the relatively newly formed Czech Republic, and it brought back bittersweet memories as Radek hummed along. He barely ever got to listen to Czech music, as not surprisingly, no San Francisco radio stations specialised in obscure Eastern European rock music. But he was content with the few cds and collected records he had, and he reserved them for when he was alone. _Especially for songs like this one_ , he thought as he sang along, “Kde jsi, kde jsi, že tady nejsi ted”.

As he was parking the car outside the kindergarten, the last song of the disc finished. Radek made sure to put the cd away before he grabbed his bag and headed inside. He was a few minutes later than he would have liked, so his brow was furrowed with concern as he entered the classroom. However, he needn’t have worried, as when he looked around the room, he noted that there were still a few children waiting to be picked up. He surveyed the classroom in an attempt to find Lukas, but couldn’t see him.

The young teacher’s aide walked past him, and Radek touched her by the elbow to get her attention. “Ah - Amelia, it is Amelia, yes?”

Her lips curved in a half smile, “Yes, it is. You alright Mr. Zelenka?”

Barely even noticing that she forgot his correct title, he asked, “Have you seen my son? Small, blonde, red t-shirt?”

She chuckled lightly, then pointed across the room. “He and Evan have been wrapped up in a very intense conversation about trains for the last 5 minutes.”

Radek followed her finger, which was pointing to the back of Evan’s head. The man was sitting on the floor, hunched over. Lukas must have been obscured from sight on the other side of him.

“Thank you,” Radek said absentmindedly as he head over to where Evan and Lukas were sitting.

As he approached the pair, he overheard Evan say, “My favorite thing is how fast trains go. They woosh right past you, way faster than your car!”

Radek cleared his throat. “Am I interrupting an important train conversation?”

“Tatínek!” Lukas called out happily, “Evan knows so much about trains, tatínek.”

He grinned and looked down at teacher. The tips of his ears were going red, Radek noted as Evan stood up.

“Lukas and I have been discussing how trains work. He told me all about old steam trains,” Evan explained, eyes wide open in a playful mockery of Lukas’ naivety.

Radek nodded along with Evan, “We like seeing the old steam trains, eh Luka?”

Lukas stood up and mimicked Radek’s grin back at him. “Are we going home now, tatínek?”, he asked, ignoring the previous question.

“Yes, my little beruška. But I want to show you something first.” He reached for the newspaper in his bag, then added as an afterthought, “Evan might like it too.”

Radek led the other two over to a table, then spread out the newspaper and turned to the correct page. “Do you recognise this, Luka?”, he asked, pointing to the photo of Lukas and the drag queens.

“That’s me!”, exclaimed Lukas, “and the sparkly ladies! It’s our photo, tatínek!”

Evan and Radek shared a knowing smile. “Remember the newspaper man asking for your picture?”

Nodding, Lukas said, “He had a big camera.”

“I thought it was pretty nice of them to print it”, Radek said, “Now you’re in the paper! That makes you famous.”

Lukas bounced up and down excitably. “Can we pin it on the fame wall?”, he asked Radek.

“The fame wall?”, Radek asked, confused.

Evan offered an explanation, tapping Radek on the shoulder to get him to turn his head and look at the opposite wall. “The wall of fame. We put the kid’s achievements on there. We’ve got photos of awards they win and some things they’ve made.”

“Oh,” Radek said, “Sure, sure, let’s cut it out!”

Evan reached behind Radek, grazing his chest against Radek’s back. Radek felt a shock of tingles run down to his toes, then felt his cheeks redden in response. Evan pulled a pair of safety scissors from the cabinet behind them, then helped Lukas cut out the picture.

The teacher took Lukas’ hand and they went over to the ‘wall of fame’ board to pin it up together. Radek followed them, and smiled to himself as Lukas stretched up on his tippytoes to pin it up.

“What do you think, Lukas?”, Evan asked him.

Lukas nodded curtly. “I like it”, he said authoritatively.

Evan chuckled in response, then turned to face Radek. “How do you feel about having a famous son?” he asked cheekily.

“Well, I’m very humbled,” Radek said with a faux-sombre face, which made Evan grin, biting his lip to hold back a laugh. Radek was distracted for a moment, staring at Evan’s lips, before he mentally shook himself back to focusing.

“We should probably head home now. Thanks, Evan”, he said with a smile.

“Anytime, Doc. Radek.” Evan said with a smirk. Radek could have sworn he saw him wink at him before he left to go help Amelia with some tidying up.

Radek’s eyes trailed after Evan for a moment, but were interrupted by Lukas pulling his hand.

“Come on, tatínek!” he said impatiently. Radek looked, startled, at Lukas. Then, he let Lukas lead them towards the kindergarten exit.

Just as they were about to leave the kindergarten, a woman called for Radek’s attention.

“Excuse me?”, she said, walking to greet them, “I do not believe we have met.”

She offered her hand, and Radek shook it. She spoke again, “I am Teyla, Torren’s mother. You are Lukas’ father, are you not?”

Radek suddenly remembered where he recognised her from. This morning’s show and tell, the cicada shell boy’s mother.

“Yes, that’s me. Dr. Zelenka - But, ah, call me Radek.” He smiled tightly, unsure what the woman had to say.

Teyla returned the smile, then explained, “I thought we should get to know one another, because our two sons seem to be getting along quite well.” She gestured towards the two boys, who were now sitting next to each other at a nearby desk having an animated conversation ( _probably about bugs or trains_ , Radek thought).

“Yes, good idea,” conceded Radek, adjusting his glasses anxiously.

Teyla nodded slowly, obviously picking up on Radek’s slight discomfort. “Well, Radek, what I did want to ask you is about Lukas. I have seen a young woman drop him off and pick him up a few times. I assume that is his nanny?”

“Yes, she is - how do you say - “, he clicked his fingers trying to think of the right term, “Au pair. She has stayed with us the last year, helping look after Lukas a few days a week. But she is actually leaving next week, to home in Ukraine. So I am at a loss what to do.”

“Well that’s perfect!”, Teyla said. Radek frowned, not sure how she could have reached that conclusion.

“What I mean, Radek, is that I can help. I look after quite a few of the children after kindergarten until their parents can pick them up. I thought of it when I saw your nanny - I just like the idea of children getting to play with other children, instead of just with their nannies.”

Radek raised his eyebrows, surprised. “That- that would be wonderful! Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am sure. I usually have about 4 of the children over in the afternoons. We do crafts and they play and maybe watch some cartoons and we sometimes bake. Evan can vouch for me if you are unsure.”

He shook his head. “Not necessary. You seem perfectly respectable,” he said. _Despite the very low-cut top_ , he thought privately.

She laughed, her face opening in a soft grin. “Ok, I’ll give you my home number and we can sort something out, yes?”

Radek nodded, then searched for his cellphone in his pockets so she could input her number. He handed it over to Teyla, then asked, “So, you do not work, or your hours just work well with kindergarten?”

“No, I do not work. I have a younger one, Torren’s sister Senka. She is 13 months old, so I devote much of my time to her care at present. However, when she is older, I will return to work.”

“Where is she? What do you usually do?”, asked Radek, “Sorry, too many questions.”

Teyla waved her hand dismissively. “It is fine. My daughter is with my good friend Ronon, he is our next door neighbour and happens to not be working today. And when I do work, I am a police officer. Torren’s father and my husband, John, is as well- however he holds the lieutenant rank.”

“Then my Luka could not be in better hands”, said Radek.

“Thank you, Radek. Anyhow, I should not keep you and Lukas. You will call me later?”, she asked, handing back Radek’s cell phone.

He nodded, “I certainly will. Thank you, you’ve saved me from searching for some sort of babysitting service!”

Teyla smiled again. “It is my pleasure, Radek. See you tomorrow, no doubt?”

“That you will. Say goodbye, Luka”, he said, beckoning his son to leave.

“Bye!” shouted Lukas, waving frantically at Teyla and Torren. The two waved back, smiling.

Radek took Lukas’ hand and led him to the exit. Just as they stepped outside the door, Radek smacked right into Evan, who was holding a few of the outside toys, obviously still tidying up.

“Evan!”, Radek exclaimed, “I’m so sorry!”

Evan shook his head, smiling. “It’s fine Radek. I’m ok, no bumps, no bruises.” He made a show of inspecting his torso. “I can’t speak for the bucket though,” he reached down to pick up the toy bucket he had dropped and looked it over, “No. it’s fine as well.”

“Good, good,” Radek said, letting a breath go that he wasn’t aware he had been holding.

“I forgot to ask you, actually Radek. Would you be able to stay for about 15 minutes on Friday afternoon to talk? I’m not sure if you’re free, but usually I try to touch base with the parents about a week after their child starts, just to check everything is going well.”

Radek considered for a moment, then answered, “Yes, that’s fine Evan. It’s ok if Lukas stays and plays off to the side?”

“Of course, sure. Friday, 1pm?”

Radek dipped his head in a short nod.

“It’s a date,” Evan said with a slight smirk, before he gave a small wave. “See you both tomorrow!”

“Bye!” Lukas said enthusiastically, as Radek stood in a stunned silence, trying not to let himself blush. Evan bounced his eyebrows cheekily, then made his way back inside.

Radek found himself watching Evan walk to the other side of the classroom, ignoring Lukas pulling on his hand. Evan leant over, emptying his armful of toys into a brightly coloured box, which made his khaki pants tighten ever so slightly, hugging his ass in all the right places.

_Dear god, he looks like a fucking marble statue_ , thought Radek, recalling his dreaded high school museum trips. He bit his lip, letting himself take in the view for another moment before he tore himself away.

Begrudgingly, he walked Lukas out the gate and back to the car. _Staring at some young teacher’s ass, what are you doing_ , Radek chastised himself. He buckled Lukas’ seatbelt and sighed.

_God help me_ , he thought, with one last longing look at the kindergarten where Evan was inside, before he drove away. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Czech translations
> 
> \- “Miláček” = Sweetheart  
> \- “Kde jsi, kde jsi, že tady nejsi ted” = Where are you, where are you that you're not here now
> 
> The song Radek was listening to in the car is this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlZQag5HYNk), Jsi tu by Jasná Páka (1985). The lyrics, as far as I can tell, are about missing somebody that you love. I thought it fit well for what I was trying to convey.


End file.
